Miracle Monday- Change and a Wedding

Sometimes miracles happen all at once, and other times they happen over time.  We have been working in Village 1 for about 7 years.  We have seen God take a group of people and get a hold of their lives and transform it.  The village has stopped going to the local Hindu Temple. They say that they trust in Jesus now. 

This has changed the way they do things.  It is a normal custom, in India, to ask someone else to name your child. Normally they choose a name that is associated with a Hindu god or goddess.  This village now asks our pastors to name the newborns, so that they will receive CHRISTIAN names.  They are asking to start their children as Christians.

When  Rangasamy died this summer, our staff was called upon to help with the family and burial.  

The another major life event that we had yet to be invited to was marriage.  Normally the Hindu priest comes in and does the ritual and Puja's (Hindu worship ceremony).  However, this marriage was different. Our pastors were invited to attend.  The Hindu priest was there, but all he did was play music with the other men.  They participated in the cultural aspects of the wedding, but nothing more

 The Hindu Priest Playing

The groom makes his entrance: the groom is from Village 1

 Indian brides are suppose to look shy at their weddings.  She is from another village area.

The Happy Couple

. While this all may not seem like a big deal to you, in India it is a HUGE deal.  You are legally registered with your religion.  You do not choose your religion, it is chosen for you at birth.  To convert, it is hard.  The acts that this village is doing, it saying they have chosen their families to follow Jesus.   They have chosen their marriages to start with Jesus. 

If this is not a miracle, then I do not know what is.

Miracle Monday- The land and the cobra

If you get our newsletters, you may remember that last month we talked about moving forward into phase 2 of our Tribal Center project.  Phase 2 is construction, and Step 1 of Phase 2 is pre-construction.  We needed $20,000 to complete all the pre-construction needs like, fencing, electricity, bore water well, leveling the land, and blue prints. Just a few days after sending out that letter, we had the FULL $20,000 needed for pre-construction!!!!

So we have moved on toward completing the pre-construction needs.

A couple of weeks ago we had some workers leveling the ground.  There are several dead trees and piles of rocks that need to come out.  When the tractor came to one pile of rocks, they came across something frightening, a 6 foot cobra!!!

The Cobra is a Hindu god, so the Hindu workers told one of our pastors, "we will not kill this snake, it is our god."

Well, it is not a god to us, so Pastor Stephen took some large stones and sticks and killed the cobra.

The significance here is great.  The cobra represents what USE to own that land, and the shackles that kept people in bondage.  The first step we took on that land was taking back the land from the cobra!  This land is now for God's kingdom!!!

The next step is to build the first building, but more on that later.

Real Hope Revival Church- Youth Meeting

Every August 15th, Real Hope Revival Church #1  does a meeting for the youth.  August 15th is India's Independence Day, so the children have a day off of school.  (school runs from June to March)

This is a good time to encourage these children and youth, who live in a society where they are a minority. 

There are worship and action songs.

There are skits that the children have designed. 

There is a special message meant for the youth. 

 

Children struggle in this area.  Sometimes they will be the only Christian in their classroom.  These times encourage them to stand strong.

Checking for Water in India

Do you have land in India, and need to find where to put a bore well?  Well here is a way to do it!

This is one way that engineers find water in India.  They take a coconut and place it on a hand with the point of the coconut facing horizontally.

The arm of the person is extended to form a "L."  They then walk over the land, and when the coconut stands up, there is water.

They then take a lemon on a string to determine the depth of the water.

The next step is to mark the area with a stone, so you can find it when they come to drill the well.

 The last step is to pray over the place water was found, asking God to bless that place and provide an ample supply of water!

Stay tuned!  In a few weeks we plan to drill the well.  We will share you the next step in finding water.